Russian authorities are failing to protect gay people from persecution and are not prosecuting the perpetrators of a growing number of homophobic attacks , Human Rights Watch says in a new report .

Its report calls for a July 2013 anti-gay propaganda law to be repealed , saying many lesbian , gay , bisexual and transgender people interviewed for the report had noticed an increase in persecution since last year .

The 2013 legislation bans `` propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations around minors . '' This means the public discussion of gay rights and relationships , anywhere children might hear it , is prohibited . Russian and international rights groups have condemned it as highly discriminatory .

Many of the LGBT interviewees for the report released Monday reported increased stigma , harassment and violence against them since 2013 , the rights group says .

`` The law effectively legalized discrimination against LGBT people and cast them as second-class citizens , '' it says . `` Instead of publicly denouncing anti-LGBT violence and rhetoric , Russia 's leadership has remained silent . In some cases public officials have engaged in explicit anti-LGBT hate speech . ''

The report says that 22 of the 78 victims of homophobic and transphobic violence and harassment did not report attacks to police , as they did not think they would be taken seriously . Law enforcement bodies can prosecute such violence under Russia 's hate crime laws , Human Rights Watch says , but not one of the cases documented in the report was investigated as a hate crime .

The rights group describes anti-LGBT groups made up of `` radical nationalist men '' luring gay men and children on fake dates before holding them against their will and humiliating them .

`` In other cases , LGBT people described being physically attacked by strangers on the subway , on the street , at nightclubs , and , in one case , at a job interview , '' its report says .

A transgender woman , referred to in the report as `` Risa R , '' is quoted as saying she was abducted and brutally assaulted in St. Petersburg in 2013 .

`` They kept calling me a ` faggot ' and telling me how much they hated gays . I told them repeatedly that I was n't gay , that I was a transgender woman , but they did not want to listen , '' she says .

`` One of them said , ` You 're nothing but a faggot . We will get your brain straight right now . ' Several times they threatened to rape me . Then they took pliers from their car and ripped out two of my toenails . Afterwards , they said , ` Now you will be better off . Now you will be pretty . ' ''

Human Rights Watch says Risa explained that she had not gone to police because she had `` no illusions that the police would investigate . ''

It quotes an LGBT activist from Pervouralsk , Gleb Latnik , as saying he had reported to police soon after he had been attacked .

`` His injuries were visible -- there was significant bruising on his forehead , there were bruises under his eyes , and one eye was swollen shut , '' the report says .

`` The police officer who took his complaint said to him , ` It 's all right , you 're gay so it 's normal that you were attacked . Why would you need to file a complaint against anyone ? ' ''

`` Violence experienced by LGBT people in Russia is unmistakably motivated by homophobia , but the authorities deliberately ignore that these are hate crimes and fail to protect victims , '' Human Rights Watch 's Tanya Cooper said .

The report includes responses from the Russian Prosecutor General 's Office and Russian Interior Ministry , and the rights group said neither agency collected statistical data about attacks specifically committed against LGBT people .

This month , President Vladimir Putin met with Russian human rights groups , telling them that Russia 's priority was `` a healthy traditional family and a healthy nation . '' He said that did not mean that it would persecute those `` of a nontraditional orientation . ''

`` People have tried to stick this label on us , even people who use criminal law to persecute people of nontraditional orientation . Some U.S. states make it a crime , and though as far as I know these laws are not actually applied and the Supreme Court has suspended them , but they are nevertheless still on the books . We have no criminal penalties , '' he said .

Putin said that no one should face discrimination in Russia .

`` All people here have political rights , social rights , rights to employment , and no one should face discrimination , '' he said . `` But our strategic choice is for traditional families , healthy families and a healthy nation . One does not exclude the other and does not hinder the other . I think this is a balanced approach and is entirely the right approach . ''

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A Human Rights Watch report says Russia has failed to prevent homophobic violence

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It blames a growing number of attacks on a 2013 anti-gay propaganda law

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Authorities are failing to use hate crime legislation to prosecute offenders , the report says

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Russia 's President has said no one should face discrimination , calls `` traditional families '' priority